07/08/2010

There Is NO OTHER Way

(My sweet sister-in-love, Julie and little Will)

As I woke up this morning, I could not get the song out of my head....."Trust and obey, for there's NO OTHER way to be HAPPY in Jesus, but to TRUST and OBEY"! I have listened to that song over and over in my life, with one of my favorite versions being on my iPod from Big Daddy Weave's album "Every Time I Breathe". It's a good thing that you really can't wear out an MP3 like you used to wear out LP's....because if that were possible, I would have worn this one out by now! (If you don't have this album, I HIGHLY recommend it....it has been a HUGE blessing to me)

Today was a big day for our family. As my regular readers know, my sister-in-love, Julie, was diagnosed with colon cancer in March. After her diagnosis, she underwent chemo and radiation, in hopes of shrinking her tumor prior to surgery. As for the surgery, it was today....and WOW, are we all overwhelmed or what with our God? Not only did the tumor shrink to the point that the physicians couldn't see it in the pre-operative testing, but the surgery itself was a total success. I'll have to tell you, for me, it's been really hard totally "trust" God (in my own flesh) to completely see Julie through this trial. But I have had to "obey" and know that "worry" is the opposite of "faith". God promises believers that He will "supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". (Philppians 4:19)

I fully believe that as a believer, "trusting" and "obeying" should go hand in hand. I don't think that you can "trust" and not "obey". By "trusting" His infallible Word to do the things that He tells us that He will do, it is a requirement that we "obey" Him, in order to receive the promises that we are trusting Him to fulfill. And in the case of my sweet sister-in-love, thousands upon thousands have been obedient to the call of Christ to pray and intercede on her behalf. And for that, God receives the glory. And in the midst of this trial, there have been scores of people who have come in contact with Julie's story who may never have heard of Jesus and how He can save them. And to boot, the amount of trust in our Lord that Julie herself has had to exhibit is just overwhelming. In the midst of a trial of this magnitude in her own life, she has had to trust God to use something as serious as cancer for His glory. And through it all, she has been and example of obedience to all of us by remaining faithful to Him and to His word for the duration of this trial. And the trial is not over...there is still recovery ahead, but I have no doubt that Julie will continue to handle it with the beauty and grace that she has to this point. I wish that everyone could know her...because as beautiful as she is on the outside, she is one hundred fold more beautiful on the inside. She's our sweet Julie and to know her is to deeply love her.

So, in case you don't already know it, our God is GOOD! He is faithful and He is just. And today, tomorrow and forever, we will trust Him for our every need. It will not always be easy, but as the song says...."Trust and obey, for there's NO OTHER WAY to be HAPPY in Jesus...but to trust AND obey".

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There Is NO OTHER Way

(My sweet sister-in-love, Julie and little Will)

As I woke up this morning, I could not get the song out of my head....."Trust and obey, for there's NO OTHER way to be HAPPY in Jesus, but to TRUST and OBEY"! I have listened to that song over and over in my life, with one of my favorite versions being on my iPod from Big Daddy Weave's album "Every Time I Breathe". It's a good thing that you really can't wear out an MP3 like you used to wear out LP's....because if that were possible, I would have worn this one out by now! (If you don't have this album, I HIGHLY recommend it....it has been a HUGE blessing to me)

Today was a big day for our family. As my regular readers know, my sister-in-love, Julie, was diagnosed with colon cancer in March. After her diagnosis, she underwent chemo and radiation, in hopes of shrinking her tumor prior to surgery. As for the surgery, it was today....and WOW, are we all overwhelmed or what with our God? Not only did the tumor shrink to the point that the physicians couldn't see it in the pre-operative testing, but the surgery itself was a total success. I'll have to tell you, for me, it's been really hard totally "trust" God (in my own flesh) to completely see Julie through this trial. But I have had to "obey" and know that "worry" is the opposite of "faith". God promises believers that He will "supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". (Philppians 4:19)

I fully believe that as a believer, "trusting" and "obeying" should go hand in hand. I don't think that you can "trust" and not "obey". By "trusting" His infallible Word to do the things that He tells us that He will do, it is a requirement that we "obey" Him, in order to receive the promises that we are trusting Him to fulfill. And in the case of my sweet sister-in-love, thousands upon thousands have been obedient to the call of Christ to pray and intercede on her behalf. And for that, God receives the glory. And in the midst of this trial, there have been scores of people who have come in contact with Julie's story who may never have heard of Jesus and how He can save them. And to boot, the amount of trust in our Lord that Julie herself has had to exhibit is just overwhelming. In the midst of a trial of this magnitude in her own life, she has had to trust God to use something as serious as cancer for His glory. And through it all, she has been and example of obedience to all of us by remaining faithful to Him and to His word for the duration of this trial. And the trial is not over...there is still recovery ahead, but I have no doubt that Julie will continue to handle it with the beauty and grace that she has to this point. I wish that everyone could know her...because as beautiful as she is on the outside, she is one hundred fold more beautiful on the inside. She's our sweet Julie and to know her is to deeply love her.

So, in case you don't already know it, our God is GOOD! He is faithful and He is just. And today, tomorrow and forever, we will trust Him for our every need. It will not always be easy, but as the song says...."Trust and obey, for there's NO OTHER WAY to be HAPPY in Jesus...but to trust AND obey".